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As voters intended, this made it easier to lower taxes than to increase them. The legislature could provide a favoured group with a new tax loophole by a simple majority, but eliminating the same loophole at some later point would require two-thirds.
But there were also, as usual, unintended consequences. A supermajority requirement means that one “no” vote in the legislature counts the same as two “yes” votes. It thus doubles the power of the minority party, as long as that party has more than one-third of the legislature and can force its members to vote as a block. In California the Republicans are in that situation.
Messrs Mathews and Paul argue that the Republicans have become what game theorists call “hostage-takers”. They discovered that, although they could not pass laws by themselves, they could block the most important ones, including the budget. Simply by stalling, they could thus paralyse state government until the majority party made some concession to one of the Republican lobbies. This is the main reason why California has so often had late budgets. The Republicans gambled that voters would blame either the majority party or the entire legislature. The Democrats rejected blame as though they were the minority party. The initiatives that imposed the supermajority rules thus made the legislature less, not more, accountable.

A. 어휘
favoured group 受惠(수혜)집단. loophole 빠지는 구멍, 銃眼(총안).
eliminate 제거하다. unintended consequences 의도하지 않았던 결과.
block 장애물, 封鎖(봉쇄), 閉塞(폐색).
legislature 議會(의회). hostage-takers 인질납치범.
stall 지연시키다. paralyse 마비시키다. concession 양보.
gamble 도박하다. rejected blame 비난을 거부하다, 책임이 없다고 주장한다.
impose 賦課(부과)하다, 강요하다. accountable 책임지다.